Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I have been trying for 10-15 minutes of "class time" per dog, five days a week, but kid-stuff is now consuming a full two days and will likely continue to do so until some time in May.

Zachary starts Canine Good Citizen class this week, so there goes another day. And if that isn't enough, I have a rush job I'm working on throughout April.

Oh dear.

Accomplished Last Week:

Core Studies: Continued work on down-stays during Find The Duck.

Canine Good Citizen: Did a Meet 'n Greet at the library. Failed to meet many people (see Blog below) but was able to work on many other things (noises, dogs, patience...) so all was not lost - although it appears Zachary's sit-stay was.

In light of the severe time restraints during the week, I'm going to focus on weekend outings and On The Road activities. I'm also going to make as much use of lunchtime Find The Duck as I can by working to rebuild Zachary's duration sit-stay (both distance and out of sight).

Blog: Created BZ’s Video Guide, containing tables (row = behaviors, columns = level) with cells linked the appropriate video on YouTube. There's one for Beau and two for Zachary (as Zachary is also working On The Road.)

Planned for Next Week:

Only five items left to video for On The Road (Level Two) - Come, Crate, Distance, Go To Mat, and Watch. The Come is doubtful, as I’ll need to find someplace he hasn’t been before that’s “safe” for off-leash work, and at the moment I can’t think of anyplace.

This will be another Real Life filled week, and I do not expect to get to most of these things. But having a lot to choose from might make it easier to pick something if I do end up with spare time.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Ten down (forty-two to go) – this week marks 25% of the year gone. Weren’t we just celebrating the New Year, oh, like yesterday?

This week I shook things up by setting aside the “work” parts of the curriculum and focusing on the “fun” parts. Then as the week went on, I came to realize that while I have Goals, I have no reason for wanting to complete them.

This is obviously something I will have work on this coming week,

Then Sunday came – a stunningly beautiful day - so Zachary and I took Flip to foreign sidewalks and knocked off videoing a whole bunch of Training Level "On The Road" things (all listed under Core Studies below for simplicity, although technically some fit better in Family Member and Extracurricular Activities)

Monday, March 1, 2010

Eight down (forty-four to go). I’m pleased to report that EVERYONE was healthy this week. Yeah!

My son’s Lacrosse season has officially started. He made Varsity this year, and so that is eating a big chunk out of week nights (watching games, taking him to/from practice, etc.)

Accomplished Last Week:

Core Studies – Worked on Down-Stay’s in the context of Find the Duck! Zachary sits well enough now for basic grooming that I trotted out the video camera and captured his (simple) grooming and Beau’s more slightly more involved session. Not very interesting viewing, but I might upload anyway as a “Quick Flick” (no music).

Quiz results: Beau still not happy with the trash, but the rest was a snap.

Citizenship – Still working those out-of-sight stays using the Find it! as a reward

Family Member – Had to work on “Duck Zen” this week, as Beau was getting rather… vocal.

Extracurricular – Finished TL4 Broad Jump.

Just For Fun – Zachary is still a bit shy about me putting the cookie on his nose, but once there he holds still just fine and his flip is getting better at the end.

Blue Bar – Videoed TL4 Broad Jump for both boys. Worked on writing up ECA – Assisting, but it’s not quite done yet.

I liked the green color for "things not on the list last week", and so that is probably going to be a permanent feature.

Core Studies – Same as last week.

Quiz: First item is for ECA – Dance, the next two are refreshers before I re-video Zachary’s Level One On The Road, and the forth one is to finish off the trick. Long Down is there because they have to do it anyway, so they might as well get "credit" for it!